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WASHINGTON (AP) - An American accused in court papers of having ties to Osama bin Laden is now working for the Iraqi government's Foreign Ministry, U.S. officials and a former CIA counterterrorism chief say. Iraqi-born Tarik A. Hamdi was the ``American contact'' for one of bin Laden's front organizations and gave a satellite telephone battery to a bin Laden aide in Afghanistan for a phone used by the terrorist leader, according to an affidavit from Customs Agent David Kane.The affidavit was unsealed this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., along with a federal indictment charging Hamdi with lying...

The attacks on US targets culminating in the September 11 suicide hijackings were only a fraction of the onslaught planned by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, it emerged yesterday. Over the past three years, US intelligence detected plots against US embassies in 14 countries, mostly in Asia and Africa, and there were over 600 more "credible threats" of attacks. Some were thwarted by arrests or stepped up security. Others appear to have been suspended or may still be pending. The global extent of al-Qaida's terrorist ambitions is revealed in a new book by Peter Bergen, CNN's terrorism analyst, who interviewed ...

RANDALL TODD ROYER AND IBRAHIM AHMED AL-HAMDI SENTENCED FOR PARTICIPATION IN VIRGINIA JIHAD NETWORK WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General John Ashcroft, Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty of the Eastern District of Virginia announced that Randall Todd Royer and Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Hamdi were sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema for their convictions on charges stemming from their participation in a network of militant jihadists centered in Northern Virginia. Royer, 31, pled guilty in January 2004 to a two-count criminal information charging him with aiding and abetting...

Alexandria, Va. – Two American Muslims were sentenced Friday to 20 and 15 years in prison, respectively, for their roles in support of a Virginia-based conspiracy to engage in holy war against nations deemed hostile to Islam, including the United States. The two men, Randall Todd Royer, 31, and Ibrahim al-Hamdi, 26, were among nine men who either pleaded guilty or were convicted of charges related to their participation in what prosecutors called a "Virginia jihad network." Two others who faced charges were acquitted on all counts. The group used paintball games played in the woods near Fredericksburg in 2000...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP)--Two American Muslims accused of training for holy war against the United States by waging paintball battles in the Virginia woods were sentenced Friday to 15 years or more in prison. Randall Todd Royer, 31, and Ibrahim al-Hamdi, 26, were among nine men who either pleaded guilty or were convicted of charges related to their participation in what prosecutors called a ``Virginia jihad network.'' Two others were acquitted on all counts. The group used paintball games in 2000 and 2001 as military training in preparation for holy war against nations deemed hostile to Islam, prosecutors say. After the...

WASHINGTON -- Two members of a Virginia-based Islamic terrorism network pleaded guilty to weapons and explosives charges Friday and promised to help the government, Attorney General John Ashcroft said. Randall Royer and Ibrahim al-Hamdi, who entered their pleas in suburban Alexandria, Virginia., had ties to the Lashkar-e-Taiba group seeking to drive India out of Kashmir. A federal indictment said the Northern Virginia group also had broader goals of helping the al-Qaida network; Afghanistan's former ruling militia, the Taliban; and rebels in Chechnya. Both Royer, 30, and al-Hamdi, 26, pleaded guilty to using and discharging a firearm during, and in relation...

<p>FBI agents have arrested eight men in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania in a suspected scheme by Islamic extremists to engage in "holy jihad" to drive India out of the disputed Kashmir territory in South Asia.</p> <p>The men, along with three others, were named in a 41-count federal grand jury indictment handed up in U.S. District Court in Alexandria accusing them of conspiracy to "prepare for and engage in violent jihad" against foreign targets in Kashmir, the Philippines and Chechnya. Nine of the 11 were identified as U.S. citizens.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In Friday morning raids, the FBI arrested at least seven men suspected of having ties to a foreign terrorist organization, government sources told CNN.</p> <p>The men are believed to be linked to Lashkar-E-Taiba, a Kashmir separatist group that the United States designated a terrorist organization in 2001.</p>